Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / PML / The Fraser Valley Regional District has been told by B.C. Transit that the ongoing bus strike will remain until further notice. CUPE 561 bus drivers walked off the job on Monday, March 20 due to low wages and no pension.
Striking bus drivers

No end in sight as bus strike enters 3rd day in Chilliwack

Mar 22, 2023 | 9:39 AM

CHILLIWACK — There’s no end in sight for the ongoing bus strike that has entered its third day and suspended all regular bus service in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Agassiz-Harrison, Hope, Mission, and customers using the Fraser Valley Express.

Unionized bus operators walked off the job indefinitely starting Monday, March 20, affecting the following Chilliwack bus service: route 51 (Vedder), route 52 (Evans), route 53 (Chilliwack), route 54 (Promontory), route 55 (Yarrow-Greendale), route 57 (Broadway), route 58 (Tyson), route 59 (Industrial), route 66 (Fraser Valley Express), as well as routes 71 and 72.

In a news release posted to the FVRD website Tuesday night (Mar. 21), the Fraser Valley Regional District says it has been advised by B.C. Transit that the service suspension will remain in place until further notice.

“As BC Transit, and local government partners in the Fraser Valley region are not the employers, they must respect the collective bargaining process and therefore not interfere with, or influence in any way, the negotiation being conducted between employees and their private-sector employer – First Transit,” FVRD wrote on its website. “We understand the frustration felt by customers and that the job action is difficult for everyone involved in the region.”

It should be noted that First Transit is not the company that employs striking bus drivers; rather, it is Transdev Canada, which announced on March 7 it has acquired First Transit and assumed all First Transit activities in Canada.

Fraser Valley Today reached out to Jamie Weiss, a media spokesperson for B.C. Transit, on Wednesday morning and learned that there were no updates to provide to the public.

“No further update at this time,” Weiss said in an email Wednesday morning. “B.C. Transit is continuing to monitor the situation and hopes the parties will find resolution soon.”

CUPE 561 bus drivers have walked off the job due to low wages compared to their Metro Vancouver colleagues who operate buses. CUPE says Fraser Valley bus operators are paid 32 per cent less than drivers in the Vancouver area. CUPE 561 also wants Fraser Valley bus operators to have a pension.

Transdev Canada is the third party company that directly employs bus drivers operating B.C. Transit buses. B.C. Transit, the provincial Crown corporation that delivers bus services outside Metro Vancouver, does not directly employ these striking bus drivers.

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